For You, I Was Here
by daydreaminginthestars
Summary: All nurse Ava wanted to do was help out the war effort. So joining the US Army Nurse Corps was perfect for her. What she didn't count on was the Nurse Corp's Colonel and her famous uncle convincing her to be their guinea pig. If she succeeds she could become the first female medic stationed with a company at all times. That is if Easy company can accept their new nurse. *Revised!*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** ** _Band of Brothers_** **does not belong to me. I own nothing and I mean no disrespect to any Easy Company member. My work is solely based on the tv portrayal, completely separate from the real life counterparts; with information attained from _Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends_ by William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and Edward "Babe" Heffron, _We Who Are Alive and Remain_ by Marcus Brotherton and various websites. I have the utmost respect to veterans, past and present and I mean no harm. I do not own the song "For You" by Keith Urban or "I Was Here" by Lady Antebellum, they merely inspired me, so I made them my story title.**

 **A/N: This is my first fanfiction, in fact this is the first thing I have ever written; other than school required writing. I am trying to stay as true to history and fact as possible, but sometimes I might have to alter things to fit (hopefully as believable as possible). I have set up a Tumblr for this story: foryou-iwashere [d o t ] tumblr [d o t ] ****c o m; password is avasteinhauser** **. I also have a Pinterest board for the 1940s if anyone's interested in checking that out just let me know. I am not sure how often I will be able to update so I will make no promises as to when. I will try my best but as a mom with two babies under two, it might not be frequent. If you like this story, please let me know. I am quite nervous about posting. Constructive criticism is welcome. I hope whoever is reading this likes the story. Enjoy! :)**

 _The White H_ _ouse has just released this statement that a massive ambush airstrike, by the Japanese, was made on Pearl Harbor and on all principal naval and military bases on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Further reports are coming in of significant American causalities, of both military personnel and civilians. We have also just learned of a second air attack, reported on army and navy bases in Manila. It appears the Japanese-lead hostilities are opening up over the entire Pacific region._

 _ **September of 1942; Toccoa, GA.**_

"You people are at the position of attention!"

 _Please do not notice me, please do not notice me._ "Lt. Steinhauser!" _Darn it!_

"Sir!" I replied. Sobel gave me an once over. "I can see your hair sticking out of your helmet, weekend pass is revoked!"

You might be wondering what in the world is a woman doing with a bunch of soldiers. Let me backtrack a bit.

 _July of 1942; Toccoa, GA_

 _Today was the day. In about a hour I was to be at Camp Toccoa, a training group for paratroopers. If I made it through the physical training, I would be the first female medic/nurse to be stationed exclusively on the front lines with male soldiers. I would eat, sleep, train, and live with these men. With any luck they would become my brothers in arms. My closest friends._

 _Finally the train pulled into the station; I hopped aboard a bus that would take me the six miles west to the base. **Breath** , I told myself, constantly doubting if I could succeed. Thoughts kept popping into my head, **Would they like me? What if they hated me?** **Oh what did I let Colonel Flikke and Uncle Frank get me into.** But I must do this for myself, to prove to myself and everyone back home that I can succeed. To prove that a woman can do more than just organize balls and play dress up._

 _I couldn't help but to fan myself, the heat already being so much hotter than it was back home in New York. As I stepped off the bus with my trunk locker, bedding roll, my suitcase, and my musette bag; dressed in my uniform of a medium blue skirt, white shirt, black tie, black shoes, and my dark blue garrison cap; I stuck out like a sore thumb. Other than Colonel Sink's secretary, I must have been the only female within miles._

 _"Hey fellas! Get a hold of this! It's a dame!"_

 _"What's a pretty little thing like you doing all the way out here?!"_

 _I looked over to see a group of men smiling and cat-calling._ _ **Just ignore them.**_

 _"Miss Steinhauser?" I looked up to see a young man, who looked to be not much older than myself waiting for my reply._

 _"Yes, that would be me." He gave me an once over, and when he noticed my uniform with my second lieutenant insignia, I saw his eyes widen._

 _"Sorry ma'am," he replied and then saluted me._

 _"As you were private...what did you say your name was?" I asked him. He stuttered back nervously "Um, I didn't ma'am. My name is Loraine, Private First Class Gerald Loraine. I'm Colonel Sink's runner. He sent me to fetch you."_

 _"Alright, lets go." I sighed._

 _PFC Loraine then lead me to probably the biggest building at camp. We walked up a flight of stairs and he knocked on the door._

 _"Enter."_ _ **Here we go.**_

 _Once the typical formalities were out of the way Colonel Sink went straight to reviewing my file._

 _"Let's see, you graduated early from The Brearly School at sixteen. Immediately entered nursing school. Graduated with honors from Vanderbilt School of Nursing. Worked two years at Mount Sinai Hospital, in the surgery and burn ward. Joined the nurse corps and were stationed with the 2nd Evacuation Hospital at Fort Devens. You completed three month of intensive military training. From March to July you were sent to work at Lovell General Hospital in Ayer Massachusetts to aquire some hands on experience. You are fluent in six languages and can understand Japanese." Colonel Sink's eyebrows raised slightly and he looked to me questioningly._

 _"Yes sir. I am what's called a polyglot. My father is a Russlanddeutsche, which means he is German and Russian, so I grew up hearing those languages at home. My family traveled to a different country each summer from the time I was five to the time I was sixteen. I tried to make it a point to at least attempt to learn the language of each country I was visiting." I replied, leaning slightly forward._

 _Colonel Sink looked up at me and said "Now Lt. Steinhauser, I hope you understand that this is not set in stone. If, and only if, you make it past your training with Captain Sobel, will you become a member of Easy Company. You will be treated like just another soldier. You will not receive any special treatment, even if your uncle does so happen to be President Roosevelt."_

 _I found myself nodding and said "yes sir."_

 _"There will be many eyes on you Miss Steinhauser. There are a lot of people who want you to fail." My eyes widened slightly. "But there are also a lot of people who are rooting for you to succeed. Personally, I am one of those." Colonel Sink shot me a smile. Surprisingly I was able to muster one up in return._

 _"I will not lie to you Miss Steinhauser, training will be difficult. It will be long and hard. Not to mention it might take awhile for the men to warm up to the idea of a woman being with them. But with any luck, they will accept you as one of them." I smiled. "You will be permitted to wear your Army Nurse Corps uniforms, because technically you still are a member. You will have to wear the PT uniform though. I will have Private Loraine bring you your combat fatigues, boots, and anything else you may need."_

 _"Do you have any questions?" Colonel Sink asked me._

 _A million thoughts ran through my mind, but I simply responded, "No, sir."_

 _"One last thing, Miss Steinhauser, if you have any problems come to me first. Anything at all. I will not let my company's reputation be tarnished by anyone who cannot keep their hands or thoughts to themselves."_

 _Sink then picked up his desk phone to let whoever was on the other end know that I was there and they were okay to come retrieve me._

 _"Good luck, Avalese. You will need it."_

 _After Colonel Sink's introduction I was then introduced to two men._

 _First it was First Lieutenant Sobel, a man who made it extremely obvious he was not happy to have me there. His first words to me were that he "was not happy about having a female in his company, but because Colonel Sink entrusted my success to him, he would make sure I was as ready as any other man in his regiment._

 _The next man I met was Second Lieutenant Winters, a man who I could tell almost immediately was the complete opposite of Lieutenant Sobel._

 _"Lt. Sobel would like me to brief the men of Easy as to why you are here." Lt. Winters told me._

 _"Would you like me to be there, sir?"_

 _"Maybe you should get settled in first before you meet everyone. I will inform them all of who you are and why you are here. It will give them a chance to digest everything._

 _"Fine with me Sir." I responded with a chuckle._

 _"Now about your footlocker..."_

I never did find out what Lieutenant Winters said to the men. All I knew was that while the men obviously weren't happy for me to be there, they let me be. Eventually they would warm up to me though.


	2. Chapter 2

Sobel continued criticizing different men for invisible infractions until finally he got to Liebgott. After criticizing Liebgott for his "rusty" bayonet Sobel started angrily shouting off about how he would not take any of us to war. We were then told to change into our PT gear to run Currahee.

"What the hell are you thinking Steinhauser?! Get your damn hair cut." Bill yelled at me. I just threw my hands up. "Alright, alright, my next weekend pass I'll go have it cut." I replied.

"Or you can pay Lieb to do it." George replied to me, cigarette dangling from his lips.

I glanced over at Liebgott; I hadn't really talked to him much so I didn't even know he could cut hair. I raised my eyebrows questioningly at him. "You can cut hair?"

"I was a barber before I came here."

"Well, will you do it?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll do it for ya. Fifteen cents though." Lieb smirks.

"Alright, problem solved."

I'd been at Camp Toccoa for a little over two months. Already I had started to notice a change, not just in my appearance, but also in how the others treated me.

My once small, 5'2" frame with no noticeable muscle had started to transform. My arms and legs had become strong and toned. My slightly rounded face lost all its baby fat; my sizable bust had gone from a d-cup to a c-cup. I took advantage of the first weekend pass that wasn't revoked and went into town to purchase a smaller bra.

The men had started to become friendlier as well.

I remembered the first interaction I had with the men that didn't involve them staring at me or asking me why I was even there.

 _The men never said it to my face, but occasionally I could hear their whispered conversations about me. I don't think they had realized yet that I knew what they were saying. I knew they were betting on how long I'd make it before I went running back to the Corps. That just motivated me even harder to succeed._

 _The only people I had had actual conversations with were the other medics in Easy. Eugene Roe, particularly. I might have even said he was starting to become my closest friend there. Only friend if I was being honest._

 _About two weeks after I had arrived, I still hadn't made much progress with the men. When they weren't staring at me, they were just flat out ignoring me. I got the feeling that no one wanted to befriend the woman first; for fear that they'd be accused of either liking me or treating me special simply because I'm female._

 _One day it all changed though. I was in the medical building organizing supplies, when in walked Bill Guarnere._

 _"What's wrong Guarnere?" I remember asking him._

 _"I got a fuckin' splinter in me hand." He replied._

 _I just stared at him for a minute, a slight smile and chuckle on my face._

 _"Alright, sit here and I will get it out in a jiffy," I sighed. Even though my head was bent slightly to see his splinter I could still tell that Guarnere was giving me glances every once in a while. Frustrated, I finally asked him, "Is there a problem Guarnere?"_

 _I guess he thought he was more subtle than what he had been because he had the decency to look abashed. "Just trying to figure out why a broad like you is doing here with a bunch of men." He replied._

 _"Broad like me? **What's that supposed to mean?**_

 _"Yeah, no offense Doc, but you ain't exactly Army material."_

 _"And why's that?" I asked him._

 _"Well, for starters you're a lot prettier than everyone else here."_

 _I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Is that so? I'm guessing it's not just you trying to figure me out, is it?" I asked._

 _"Hell no Doc."_

 _"Well, maybe if you men would try to get to know me instead of just flat out ignoring me, you might just figure some things out." I smirked to him._

 _"Duly noted."_

 _A couple days after that I was sitting in the mess hall at my usual table; my well worn copy of Gray's Anatomy sitting in front of me. I tended to sit alone, sometimes Roe would join me but only occasionally._

 _Out of nowhere I noticed someone sitting down in front of me._ _Barely glancing up, I asked with a chuckle, "What do yo want now Gene?", figuring he was the only one would would be sitting at my table with me._

 _"Gene? Never been called that before."_

 _Quickly I glanced up in surprise to see Bill sitting down. I must have been a sight to see; my spoon full of oatmeal halfway to my mouth, which was wide open._

 _"Um, hi?" I said to him._

 _"Figured I'd take your advice and get to know ya_ _." He replied._

 _"Is that so?"_

 _"Mhmm."_

 _"Alright then."_

 _Ever since that day things started to change. I guess the others thought that if Bill, who was such an integral part of Easy, deemed me okay then I must not be so bad._

"All right, let's go. On the road in P.T. formation. Let's move move move!" Lipton shouted at all of us.

Not wanting to risk the wrath of Sobel for being late we all hurried up and filed out.

Currahee was probably the one thing that I hated more than Sobel. While I was not the best, or fastest, at running Currahee, I also was not the slowest. I guess all of those years of taking Ballet classes and playing outside with more brothers and cousins than I could count really paid off.

Running Currahee in full pack was the worst though. Thankfully I was just a medic so I didn't have to carry as much gear as some of the others. I did not envy the soldiers in the motor squads at all.

One Friday night instead of being able to take our weekend passes like every other company in the regiment, we were forced to march in full pack, twelve miles, in the pitch dark.

I was marching to the right of Bull; Luz on his left. Bull, in anger said "I'm gonna say something."

I glanced over to see Luz just look up at him and say "To who?" Bull didn't bother replying.

"Lieutenant Winters!" Bull called out.

"What is it?"

"Permission to speak, sir?" He asked.

"Permission granted."

Bull then proceeded to ask why we were the only company, out of nine, that was forced to march in full pack, in the pitch dark, all twelve miles.

"Why do you think, Private Randleman?" Winters asked him.

"Lieutenant Sobel hates us, sir." was Bull's reply.

Glancing over in our direction, Winters replied that Lieutenant Sobel did not hate Easy company, he just hated Bull.

Everyone snickered, finding the little joke funny. Bull just smiled and said "thank you sir!"

"He hates Ava the most!" Tab joked. I just smirked and told him to shut up and keep marching.


	3. Chapter 3

As part of the medical training medics were required to attend to the surrounding families in the area. Even though I already had many years of experience I was still required to attend as well. I was just getting back from seeing the McDoole family when I passed Winter's and Nixon's table in the mess hall.

"Lieutenant Steinhauser!" I heard my name being shouted. I glanced over to see Nixon waving me over.

"Yes, sir?" I asked him. They both looked up at me.

"We just wanted to check up on you," Winter's told me. "See how everything's going?"

Surprised, my eyebrows rose. "Oh everything is going well."

"Everyone treating you well?" Nixon asked me.

"Yes sir. I'm getting on well with some of the guys, mostly second platoon since that's who I'm bunkered with."

"Good," stated Winters. "How is the medical training going?"

"Oh real swell, nothing I can't handle and nothing I haven't already been through. It's good to have a refresher. I actually just got back from seeing one of my families."

"Good, real good." Silence.

I glanced over to see my usual table; currently consisting of Bill, Toye, Liebgott, Luz, Perconte, Malarky, Tab, Skip, and Muck; among a few others, all staring at us.

"Um, anything else, sir?" I asked them, anxious to join my friends.

I guess they could tell because Nixon then laughed, "That'll be all. Go join your friends."

I gave a slight chuckle, "Thank you sir. Have a good day." I nodded to both of them.

After I got my breakfast, I headed over to my friends. "What was that about?" Perco asked me.

"Oh they were just checking up on me. Seeing if you bozos were being nice and all." I smirked at them.

"Hey! We're perfect gentlemen!" Skip replied.

"Yeah, suuuure."

* * *

"So Lieb, how about that hair cut?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

Liebgott glanced up at me from his card game of Poker that he was playing with the guys. "Yeah, sure right after this game." He replied with his cigarette dangling from his mouth. It had been about a week since Sobel took away our passes for our invisible infractions. I still hadn't gotten my hair cut so I figured it was about time.

Nodding, I went back to my cop of _Murder at the Vicarage_.

Finally they were done with their round of poker. Lieb stood up and called me over to his bunk.

"Alright, how short do you want your hair?" He asked me.

"Uh, I'm not sure. I guess shoulder length. That way I can still put it back."

"Okay." He replied and set to work on cutting my hair.

Once he was finished he declared that he was "all done" and dusted my shoulders off. The guys started cat calling and George exclaimed that he "didn't think I could get any more better looking." All I could reply was to tell him to shut up. Cheeks red, I made my way to the bathroom to check my hair out.

Glancing in the mirror I didn't know what to think. For as long as I could remember my hair had been at least mid back length. Moving my head side to side, I decided that it didn't look half bad, plus hopefully it would get Sobel off of my back about it and give him once less thing to punish us for.

Coming back to second's barrack I thanked Liebgott and gave him his fifteen cents plus a five cent tip. Confused, he looked at me and asked why I had given him the five cents extra. I smirked at him and said that it was for being such a good barber and to not spend it all in once place. He just smiled and shook his head.

 _Now what to do?_ "So, who wants to teach me how to play poker again?" They all groaned.

* * *

Toccoa was mostly about making sure we were in prime physical condition and combat basics. Since I had learned the basics at Fort Devens I excelled there, the physical part was where I had to improve. For the first five months every day we did P.T.; the rest of the time we learned how to use all of our weapons. By the time training was done, each and every man would know their weapons inside and out. Even if you didn't plan on using it, you learned it. Then of course there were other basics you had to know; like hand signals, how to read maps and compasses, use phones and radios. You had to learn the area and different terrains too. We also got a crash course on German basics too. They wanted us prepared on everything. With a leader like Sobel, Easy Company soon developed its own reputation.

We then had to go through a series of obstacle courses, including a set up of trenches filled with pig guts, dug under barb wire. I'll never forget the first time we had to crawl through that set up.

 _November 26, 1942 A.K.A. Thanksgiving._

"Oh goodness gracious." _Oh heck no. Oh no, oh no, oh no._

"Jesus, what the hell is this?" I heard Hoobler ask.

"That's pig guts, boy." _Of course Bull would know, he did grow up on a farm._

Halfway through crawling under the barb-wired fences and pig guts, I ended up getting a big giant mouth full of the guts. Gagging, I spit them out faster than you'd believe. "I think I'm gonna spew!" I muttered to myself and anyone listening. The men all around that heard me got a kick out of that. "Happy Thanksgiving!"

 _Oh if mother and Aunt Ellie could see me now. Mother would die of fright and embarrassment; Aunt Ellie would be proud._

A couple days later we were finishing up our morning P.T. when we made our way back to the barracks. Luz doing his impersonations of various people and we were all laughing when we entered the room.

"Holy mackerel!"

"What the hell happened?!"

"A tornado named Sobel happened." I exclaimed out loud to no one in particular.

Each footlocker had been ransacked. There were items strewn everywhere.; like a tornado had been through. Embarrassingly, my unmentionables where every, including my Kotex. Hurriedly I ran around the room collecting my things. _Sobel is such a jerk._

"Look at this!" Perco told Bill and Toye, who both had just entered the room. "Bad enough he messed with our stuff, but throwing her lady stuff everywhere? Unbelievable." He said, shaking his head.

"Oh guys, it's alright. It's no secret that I'm a woman; women have to use these things." I tried to placate the men, who were getting each other riled up; even though I was unbelievably embarrassed. The men could tell; I'm sure my cheeks were as red as they felt.

"No it's not." Liebgott said.

"Lieb's right, Ava. Sobel is constantly putting you through the wringer more than anyone else." Bull said.

I sigh, "look guys, he only does it because he doesn't want people to think he's giving me special treatment because I'm a woman."

"We should say something to Sink, he'd let Sobel have it." Popeye said.

"No!" They all look at me. "If you say something to Sink, he'd have to talk to Sobel."

"That's the fuckin' point," replied Bill.

"Exactly! Then Sobel would blow a fuse and treat me even worse than how he already is. I don't need, nor want that. I can handle him. I'm a big girl."

"If you say so, Ava; we'll drop it" Toye said.

"Thank you." I said as I bend down to pick up some strewn letters near my bed.

"Here Tip, I think these belong to you."


End file.
